This archive report was first published on 20 September 2019.
On June 22, a businesswoman, Milicent Atieno, made a wrong deposit of Sh39,000 to a man's M-Pesa account in Umoja, Nairobi, instead of her own.
Atieno, an M-Pesa agent, had been depositing money for a customer when the error occurred. She immediately called Safaricom to reverse the transaction, but by then, only Sh21,000 was left in the man's account.
The man, Stanley Irungu, was accused of withdrawing Sh39,000 from the Sh60,000 sent to him. He was arrested after Atieno's attempts to reach him to refund the money failed.
During his court appearance, Irungu admitted to withdrawing the money and promised to pay back the complainant.
He was released on a Sh20,000 bail with the hearing of his case set for October 1st.
As reported on Kenya Insights on September 20, 2019, Irungu's actions have sparked concerns about the consequences of withdrawing money sent to one's phone number by mistake.
